This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Worldwide, approximately 170 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) which frequently progresses to serious liver disease, including cirrhosis and liver cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Approximately 4% of the adult population is HCV positive. The current therapy involves the combination of pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin, is very difficult to tolerate due to severe side effects, requires 48 weeks of treatment, and has less than 50% response rate. HCV infection is the leading cause for liver transplantation in the US and liver cancer due to HCV infection is one of the most rapidly increasing types of cancer in the US. The long term goal of this program is to develop new markers for the detection of liver cancer at an early stage. We are using well characterized chimpanzee serum samples and proteomics for this purpose.